Unsure
by godeseos
Summary: Chloe Saunders is a transfer. She was previous going to an arts school, but when an altercation occurred where a teacher had to physically restrain her, she was forced to transfer. Derek Souza overhears an interesting rumour as to what actually happened, and becomes determined to get the truth out of her. Disclaimer: All characters respectively belong to Kelley Armstrong
1. Chapter 1

Dad had assured me that Lyle High School came as a highly recommended education route, and though he knew I was upset about my expulsion from my previous art school, he encouraged me to at least make an effort while I was here. I guess that's why I was here, making an effort just like I promised.

A girl bounced towards me. "You must be Chloe!" she squealed happily. "Welcome to Lyle! My name's Liz!" She stuck her hand out and I shakily accepted it.

"T-thank you." I managed.

Liz grinned from ear to ear. "Mr. Carson has assigned me to be your guide for the day, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I've been given your schedule so I can walk you to each of your classes until you get to know your way around here."

I smiled tentatively back, Liz seemed friendly enough. "Sure. That sounds great."

"Excellent!" she exclaimed, almost making me jump. "I totally memorized your schedule, so I know that you have Gym with me first period! You're going to love Mrs-"

After that, I mostly tuned out her excited babble. She hooked her arm through mine, pointing out where the washrooms were located and the rest of my classrooms. I could barely pay attention to her. When we finally arrived at our Gym class, she didn't hesitate to haul me over to a group of people huddled by the main doors.

"Simon!" she began. "I'd like you to meet Chloe Saunders, Chloe, this is Simon Bae!"

Simon beamed at me, "Welcome to Lyle, Chloe."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Where'd you transfer from?" he asked.

It was a simple enough question, but I was terrified of anyone here finding out why I had to leave my previous school. Nothing screamed crazy quite like a student claiming to see ghosts and then attacking her Algebra teacher.

"Uhm, an a-art school."

"Oh great, she stutters." A girl with long, black hair strode forward, sneering at me.

Simon glared at her, "Tori, be nice. This is Chloe, she's new here."

Tori eyed me up and down, scrutinizing me. "Clearly," she muttered.

Liz, completely ignoring Tori's rude remarks, spun me to face a hulking figure. "Derek, meet Chloe!"

'Derek', was huge. He towered over me by at least a foot, and he wasn't just tall, he was built like a machine. I had to peer up at him to properly see his face, which bore an intimidating scowl. He grunted, which I supposed passed as a hello to everyone else.

"H-hello," I finally stammered.

"Saunders? That name sounds strangely familiar." Simon had spoken up again.

I looked to him, wide eyed. "Uh yeah, it's a common name," I said hurriedly.

"Not that common," Derek rumbled from behind me.

My face blanched in horror, "I-I-"

Liz huffed and pulled me away from him before I could come up with a lame excuse. "Ignore him," she whispered under her breath. "He never quite mastered the skill of socializing."

I managed a weak smile. Derek hadn't completely bought my lie and it unnerved me. This was supposed to be a fresh start, and it wouldn't do to have the whole school know that I was seeing things.

"All right class!" A tall woman with flowing golden hair, strode into the room. She carried with her a clipboard and a whistle dangled from her fingers. "Today we have a new student, everyone say hello to Chloe."

A chorus of hellos filled the air and I mumbled a small hi back. I looked up in time to see Derek's scowl burning into the back of my head. My face turned a bright red and I sidled myself further away from him.

Liz sensed my nervousness and her gaze went straight to the source of my discomfort. She held his stare, whereas I would have shrivelled under his scrutiny. Neither of them would be the first to look away, it was almost as if they were having a conversation without actually saying words. More of an argument really.

"Uh, Liz?" I asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

She shook herself abruptly and shot him one last hard look before she turned to me with a bright smile. "Of course! Come on, Mrs. Abbot loves to make us run."

 _Okay, that was weird_ , I thought to myself.

Liz had been right, Mrs. Abbot did love her running. After my sixth lap of the track, I pulled off to the side to catch my breath. Why anyone would voluntarily put themselves up for this was beyond me.

"Running isn't your thing then?" I looked up to see Simon had stopped to check on me.

"It wasn't exactly a requirement at an art school," I replied, still out of breath.

He chuckled, "No, I guess it wouldn't be." He smiled warmly, "You can walk beside me if you'd like. Abbot doesn't like it when we stop completely."

As if to make his point, her shrill whistle cut through the air, startling me. "O-okay," I said quickly.

We walked in silence for a little while, Simon letting me gather my strength back. After about a half of a lap, he spoke up, "Are you from around here then?"

"N-no," I said.

"Oh. Where from?" My heart fluttered nervously in my chest. I really did want to tell him, but I also wanted to avoid anyone finding out why I was here instead of back at an elite art school.

Instead I opted for the partial truth. "I'm from all over the place. My Dad's business is always moving around and I usually go with him. I'm used to the whole new school routine."

"Well, hopefully you get to stick around this time." He playfully shouldered me and I ducked out of the way, giggling.

"Running is more your pace," a voice growled from behind us.

I whirled to see Derek bearing down on Simon, and instinctively backed away. Cursing myself when I stumbled over my own feet and landed flat on my butt.

Simon shook his head and reached out his hand to lift me up. "You okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah, I think so." Before I could accept his help, Derek cut him off and stood between us.

"She can get up on her own," he grunted.

"Come on bro," Simon whined. "It doesn't hurt to be polite."

"I said," he snarled angrily. "She can get up on her own." He looked to me now, his eyes brimming with suspicion. "Simon has a basketball game tonight, he could use the practice. He doesn't need you holding him back."

With that, he grabbed Simon's arm and began to drag him away. Simon's head whipped back and he mouthed I'm sorry.

Completely embarrassed, I scrambled to stand and rubbed the gravel from my palms. In my rush to catch myself, I'd scraped them open. "Great," I muttered.

Feeling completely spent and totally hurt by what Derek had said, I picked my way over to the bleachers and sat down. Mrs. Abbot didn't seem to notice, and even if she did, she didn't say anything. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I tugged it out. My hands were still sore, so I had to hold it carefully.

It was a text from my Dad.

 **Dad: How's school?**

 **Me: Fine**

 **Dad: U ok?**

 **Me: Sure**

 **Dad: Ok. Be home late 2night. xox**

 **Me: K**

I sighed wearily. It was no surprise that Dad would be home late again, he usually was. Derek and Simon jogged past again, finishing what was probably their tenth lap. Anger bubbled up inside me when I saw Derek. Who did he think he was? Pushing around the new girl, yeah, like that makes you tough.

Apparently sensing eyes on him, he stopped and let Simon jog ahead. He looked around, and at first glance, I would have guessed that he was sniffing the air. The thought quickly fled my mind when he turned to stare directly at me.

I mustered all the anger I could and cast him my best glower before I gathered up my things and fled the bleachers. I made my way over to the teacher and pulled her aside.

"Is it all right if I head to my next class early? I have bad cramps." I whispered.

Mrs. Abbot stared at me, her expression hard. "I'll let it slide today, but cramps aren't an excuse to not participate. I expect you back on that track tomorrow. Got it?"

"Y-yes," I replied. _Yeesh_. Was everybody this rude?

Working my way to the changing rooms, I was completely oblivious to my surroundings. The room was the same as every other school, lockers lined the wall and benches ran through the middle. I quickly shucked my shirt off and shimmied out of my joggers.

"Well lookie here," a voice cooed.

I spun around in search of the voice. "W-who's there?" I called out shakily.

"New girl, I do love it when we get imports." A boy, no older than me slunk from behind one of the stalls. "You look…nice," he drawled. His eyes raked over my body, hungrily devouring every detail.

"Get out!" I shrieked. "This is the girl's change room!"

He sneered, "And don't I know it."

He began taking slow steps towards me, and I rushed to back away. I froze when I found my back pressed to one of the lockers. "P-please," I said, practically in tears. "P-please leave me alone."

"Why would I do that when this is so much more fun?" he cackled.

My tiny hands were clenched into fists, and my nails dug into my already sensitive palms I latched on to the pain, focusing my energy into it. "Get out," I whispered threateningly.

"Oooh, she's tough now is she?" He taunted as he drew closer. A predatory smile stretching across his face.

The air seemed to thrum with energy, and I took a confident step towards him. The ground seemingly shaking, set the boy off-balance and he stumbled into one of the benches.

"What the-"

Just then, the door to the change room slammed open and Derek darted into the room. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

He took a look around the room and saw all the lockers had been blasted open. The floor seemed uneven and distorted. He looked to me with wide eyes. What did you-" he stopped in his tracks when he got a good look at me, then his face reddened.

I glanced down at myself, I was still left in nothing but a bra and some lacy underwear. "O-oh. O-one second," I whispered.

Derek wordlessly handed me my bag and I quickly threw on my hoodie and a pair of leggings. He then spun on the boy who was still gathering himself up off the floor. "What just happened?" the boy muttered.

"What were you doing in here?" Derek roared at him. It was enough to make me cringe. I shrunk back behind one of the locker doors and tried to stay out of his line of sight.

"I was just, I was… I wanted to introduce myself to Chloe. Because she's new here and all."

Derek got right up in his face, "Do you take me for an idiot Royce? You've been at this school for how many years? You know damn well that this is the girl's change room."

"So what?" Royce snapped in return. "What's it to you?"

Derek growled, a sound more animal than human. "You have five seconds to get out before I rip your throat out, is that clear?"

Royce cast me another regretful glance before he rushed out the door. It swung shut behind him and we were left in uncomfortable silence. I crept from behind my hiding place and Derek, almost as if he had forgotten I was there, jumped.

"Oh, just you," he rumbled. He looked me up and down, as Royce had done, but it wasn't in a way that made me feel dirty. He was going over me methodically, as if checking for any injuries. When he was content that I was unharmed, he turned around and left.

I stood there in stunned silence. The change room was now a complete disaster. _Did I do this?_ No, I told myself firmly. It just wasn't possible. It had to be a freak coincidence. _Just like seeing a ghost was all part of your imagination?_ I shook my head, tears threatening to overflow. "No!"

"No what?" Liz had walked into the room, dripping with sweat and exhaustion clear in her expression. Her eyes widened when she took in the room, "What happened in here?"

"I-I don't know. It was like this when I came in." I was shocked at how smoothly the lie came.

She shook her head, "Janitorial crew is going to have quite the mess to clean up." She smiled at me, "Oh well, not our problem!"

I forced a laugh, "Yeah."

After slathering on some moisturizer and applying my deodorant, I raced from the room. In my haste, I smacked right into the very person I didn't want to talk to.

"S-sorry Derek," I mumbled.

He grunted and I wasn't sure if that was his way of accepting my apology or not. "Stay away from Simon," he said casually.

I blinked up at him. "W-why?" I finally managed to ask.

"He has enough trouble going on in his own life, he doesn't need your baggage to." He moved to walk away and I grabbed for his arm.

"Wait-"

He spun, a growl erupting from his throat. "Don't touch me," he said, his tone menacing.

I crossed my arms over my chest in frustration and frowned. "Why," I began slowly. "Why did you save me?"

His eyebrow arched upwards, "What?"

I sighed, "Why save me if you don't like me? You don't want me anywhere near you or your friends, so why save me? Royce could have easily taken care of me. He would have done whatever, and I would have transferred to a new school out of fright. So I ask again; why save me?"

Derek looked completely taken aback. "You don't know Royce like I do, and you never will."

"That's not an answer," I snapped. "Whatever," I retorted, throwing my hands up in the air. "Next time, don't bother."

"Chloe," he growled.

"Seriously," I continued. "I don't need your help, I can take care of myself. And I definitely don't need some jerk thinking that because he rescued me, he gets to push me around to." I spun on my heels and stormed away. I paused at the entrance to my physics class, and turned to look back at him. "As for Simon, he can make his own choices."


	2. Chapter 2

**Bit of a small filler chapter here! Thank you so much to those who are taking time to read this, big hugs to you!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Darkest Powers, Kelley Armstrong does!**

When the final bell rang, signalling the end of the day, my shoulders sagged with relief. I couldn't stand another five minutes at school. Liz waved good-bye to me when I passed by her locker, and I waved back.

Rita was already parked in the lot, waiting to pick me up.

"How was school?" she asked, her Spanish accent obvious.

I shook my head and curled up against the seat. Rita eyed me sympathetically and pulled out of the lot.

"Things will get better very quickly," she assured me.

"I doubt that," I said, too low for her to hear.

Our apartment wasn't far from the school and I rushed up to my bedroom. Rita shouted after me, letting me know that dinner would be at six. Not that it mattered, I wouldn't be able to stomach it anyways.

I sprawled out on my bed, finally allowing the tears that I had fought so hard against, to flow freely. I stayed like that for what felt like hours, curled up in a pathetic ball of snot, blankets, and stuffed animals.

"Cheer up, high school is easy, life is where it gets tough. Or so everyone always told me."

I groaned, "Not again. Please go away."

A light laugh filled my ears, and I could have sworn someone's breath tickled my cheek. "I heard what happened at the other school, I figured you were ready to accept that you aren't just seeing things."

I rolled over and faced the person sitting atop my desk, "Who says I'm not still seeing things?"

The girl rolled her eyes, "Oh please, we both know that isn't the case."

I chucked my stuffed bear at her and was still unnerved when it passed through her and toppled to the floor. She eyed it, the corner of her mouth tugged upwards in a small smile.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

"I want you to to accept the truth."

"And what is the _truth_?"

"The truth is that I'm a ghost. That makes you a necromancer."

"Shut up," I warned. "I don't want to hear any of this!"

The girl's face softened, "I know you don't, but you know it's true."

I let out a slow, shaky sigh. "What's your name?" I asked.

She grinned and clapped her hands together excitedly. "My name is Ellie," she proudly proclaimed.

"All right Ellie, how do you know I'm a _necromancer_?" The word felt weird rolling off of my tongue.

"Easy," she chirped. "You have a pretty glow."

My brows knitted together in confusion, "A glow?"

"It's what drew me to you. Every necromancer has a glow that lets ghosts know they can hear us." She wriggled excitedly in her chair and for the first time, I noticed the rabbit slippers that hung off of her feet.

"How old are you?" I asked cautiously.

"Twelve," she smiled big, and I saw she was indeed missing some of her teeth.

"Oh," I whispered. "If I'm going to play along, may I ask how you died?"

Her smile fell from her lips and her eyes became as wide as saucers. "I'm not allowed to tell," she whimpered.

"You can tell-"

"NOT ALLOWED TO TELL!" She shrieked loud enough to cause my ears to ring. When I unclamped my hands from my head and peered back up at the chair, I saw that she had disappeared.

 _What had I gotten myself into?_ My cellphone rang, interrupting my train of thought. When I dug it out of my purse, I realized I didn't recognize the number.

"H-hello?"

"Chloe?" I froze when I recognized Derek's voice. "What am I saying, of course it's you. You're the only person I know who stutters," he growled through the phone.

"What do you want?" I asked cooly.

"I wanted to explain about earlier, before you ran off and said something to your Mom or whatever."

"Couldn't do that anyways, she's dead. How'd you get ahold of my number Derek?" I kept my tone harsh and my fingers were wrapped around the phone so tightly, that my knuckles had gone white.

"Jeez. I'm sorry about your-"

"Don't," I snapped. "How'd you get my number?"

He growled on the other line, "If you're going to continue to be stubborn, I won't bother explaining myself."

"Good." Before my curiosity got the best of me, I clicked to end the call. He knew that I'd want an explanation and he was playing on that. _Well guess what Derek? I'm not so easily fooled!_ If he wanted to explain the situation, he could start off with an apology for being totally rude to me.

"Chloe! Your dinner is ready!"


	3. Chapter 3

That morning took all of my willpower just to get out of bed. I tried my best to remain hidden amongst my nest of blankets, hoping that maybe if Rita couldn't see me, she'd let me off the hook.

It was a far fetched hope.

"Chloe! I know you're awake. It's time to get ready!" Rita's voice came muffled through the door. With a groan, I threw my blankets off myself and trudged for the bathroom. Already falling behind on time, I figured it didn't really matter if I was a couple of minutes late and started up the shower. The water burned while it washed over my skin, and I welcomed the steam that filled my pores. Rita's meaty fists pounded on the doors, and I was forced to quickly scrub my hair and hobble out, almost slipping on the tiles.

I threw open the door to see Rita standing with her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Hurry up Chloe. Your father was very clear when he told me you couldn't be late anymore, especially on your second day!"

"All right, all right. Give me a few minutes." I dug through my clothes and picked out my Van Gogh t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Grabbing my purse, I threw on a pair of converse and I was off. Taking the stairs three at a time, I just narrowly avoided barreling into the person standing at the bottom of the stairwell.

"D-Derek!" I cried out. "Are you stalking me now?"

He snorted, "Don't flatter yourself."

My eyes narrowed, "First my phone number, and now my apartment. All without me giving that information to you, gee that doesn't sound like stalking at all!"

His hands went up in frustration and he huffed his annoyance, "I've been trying to explain the situation to you! You either keep running away, or yelling at the top of your lungs."

I heaved my bag higher up on my shoulder and steered myself towards the lobby doors. When he didn't follow, I turned back, "The least you can do is walk me to school."

He paused, his mouth unhinged slightly. Then he clamped his jaw shut and gave a curt nod. "Right."

We walked side by side for awhile, neither of us wanting to be the first to speak. However, when the silence became too much, I spoke. "I don't understand you, you know."

He didn't respond and kept his gaze forward.

"First, you make me feel totally unwelcome. You tell me to go away and to leave your friends alone. Then you save me when Royce could have easily taken care of whatever your problem is with me. Now you're going out of your way to track me down, just to explain things to me. If you really didn't like me, it'd be better to make me squirm, desperate for information."

He gaped at me for a moment, and several emotions flitted across his face, too fast for me to read. "This isn't about me," he rumbled eventually.

I frowned, "What is it about then?"

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at a pop can that littered the sidewalk. "I know that you've noticed _things_ going on."

"What kind of things?" I asked, attempting to sound innocent.

He swallowed hard, looking extremely uncomfortable with the conversation. "Come on, you _know_."

"I know what?"

He growled low, "I read your file."

I straightened immediately, "You did what?!"

"It's kind of obvious. How else would I know both your phone number and address. I also know the reason you were expelled from your old school. _Physical Altercation with a teacher,_ " he said, mimicking the text word for word.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied stiffly.

He smirked, "The police report said you claimed to be seeing a ghost."

"Oh nice, you got a hold of that to. Good to know student privacy is so important." I rounded on him, "You do realize this just screams stalker, right?"

He brushed past me, "Like I said, don't flatter yourself."

"Don't walk away from me!" I yelled after him.

He paused, allowing me to catch up.

"All right," I said slowly. "What do you want from me then?"

"Huh?"

"You got a hold of information that would completely ruin my chances at any friends at this school. You have the ammunition you wanted, and now you get to use it as blackmail. I'll ask again, what do you want from me?" The only reason someone would go to so much trouble for my file, would be if they wanted dirt. The only people who wanted dirt on others, were the people who wanted something else, something bigger.

"I think you've got the wrong idea here," he replied gruffly. "I'm only trying to help you out."

"Right," I laughed. "Look, thanks for stopping Royce yesterday, but I have to get to class. Which incidentally, you do to. We've walked all the way to the school and you haven't explained anything except revealed that I need to avoid you at all costs." I stormed off in the direction of the track, leaving Derek staring after me.

After I'd changed, I walked on to the field to see Liz already stretching out on the grass. Simon stood beside her and when he looked up and saw me coming towards them, he beamed.

Simon clapped me gently on the shoulder, "I guess Derek didn't scare you off then?"

Liz barked a laugh, "I'm surprised he didn't. Always goes out of his way to keep our group small." I detected a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"H-he's still working at it I think."

Simon paled, "What'd he do?"

"N-never mind. It's not a big deal, h-honestly."

Liz's smile was sympathetic. "You're tougher than I thought. Most people don't even last past first period, and here you are on day two. Looks like he has his work cut out for him."

"Either that, or she's just braindead." Tori had found her way over to our group and was eyeing me disdainfully.

"I-I-"

"Ignore her, everyone else does," Simon said, clearly baiting Tori for a reaction.

Her lips curled up into a cruel sneer. "Come on Liz," she said, her tone challenging Simon to interject. "I have to work on my stretches and I need a partner."

Liz was apparently unaffected by Tori's vicious demeanour and trailed after her like a lost puppy. "See you on the track Chloe!" she called back cheerfully.

"All right then," I scoffed.

Simon's expression was grim, "Yeah, Tori's quite the piece of work." He shrugged, "Ah well, you and I can be partners today. I wouldn't mind being normal for once."

I felt a twinge of guilt at his words. I wasn't exactly the epitome of normalcy now was I? "W-won't Derek b-be angry with us being partners?"

Simon's eyes sparkled mischievously, "Don't worry about the big bad wolf. I think you've officially confused him." His head nodded in the other direction, and I followed where he was looking. Derek was standing by the start line, seemingly unimpressed by my speaking with Simon. But this time, he wasn't marching over to break it up, he looked agitated.

"What do you mean by confused him?"

"He isn't used to people not backing down, especially a girl," he mused. "Don't worry, it gets you plenty of brownie points in my books."

Simon playfully jostled me and I offered him a small smile. Maybe if I stuck close to Simon, Derek would leave me alone.

"He's a great brother and all, but he's got to learn to be nicer to other people yenno?" Simon's voice barged in on my thoughts.

"Wh-what?" I stammered ruefully. "Your brother!?"

Simon's face grew sheepish. "Yeah, I guess I should have mentioned that bit."

"You think?" I seethed. "It's totally inappropriate for me to get in-between siblings!"

When I made to leave, Simon stepped in front, effectively cutting me off. "Chloe," he began, keeping his voice low. "Calm down all right? Derek and I are fine, I know he can be an ass sometimes. He knows it to. You're not coming in-between anything by hanging out with me."

I chewed on my bottom lip and cast a nervous glance at Derek. He was looking anywhere but at us.

"Besides," Simon laughed darkly. "Consider this my making up for his poor behaviour."

Derek and Simon looked nothing alike to me. Simon was very clearly Korean, aside from the striking blonde hair atop his head. While Derek, he was a bulking figure that towered taller than even Simon. His hair was dark and lanky while also conveniently covered his eyes. I knew he was muscled just by looking at the way his shirt clung to his body and I blushed just thinking about it.

 _He's seen plenty more of you, remember_? My cheeks burned and I knew the tips of my ears had turned a bright red. That was something I had avoided thinking about. I felt I had endured enough embarrassment for that day.

"Chloe?"

"H-huh? Sorry, I wasn't listening," I admitted shyly.

He appeared disappointed at first, "Oh. No worries. Mrs. Abbot is calling us over now."

Our class gathered around Mrs. Abbot and she made sure that we had all joined her before she began speaking. "Today class," she started loudly. "I have a special assignment for you."

A chorus of groans followed her announcement and I overheard Tori mutter a few profanities under her breath.

"Calm down students. I think this assignment will be good to get to know each-other and for people to become more involved in the class." She produced her clipboard and flashed a wicked grin.

"Here we go," Simon grumbled for only me to hear.

"The object of the assignment is to create your own physical activity or game for the class to participate in. You will be in charge of directing said class. I have taken the liberty to go ahead and choose your partners."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Tori had spoken up now and her fury was tangible even from where I stood. How Mrs. Abbot was able to stand her ground was completely beyond me.

Mrs. Abbot barely flinched. "Yes Tori. In fact, I thought it'd be best for you to partner with somebody who knows a bit about responsibility. Simon, Tori will be your partner."

"Oh come on!" Simon shouted. "Why do I have to be punished for her temper tantrums?"

Mrs. Abbot all but ignored his protests. "Watch it Mr. Bae, you don't want me to dock you marks, do you?"

"Whatever." I watched as Simon walked over to take his place beside Tori, who in turn decided to be the immature one and stuck her tongue out at me. _What a princess!_

"Liz, you'll be with Royce when he returns to school again." I could sense that Liz wanted to argue with Mrs. Abbot, but she kept her lips set in a grim line. I had to feel for the girl, I knew first hand how awful Royce could be.

Mrs. Abbot spent approximately twenty minutes rattling off the names of everyone's partners. Most of them groaned and appeared as if they'd rather be anywhere except here. Others rejoiced and ran towards their best friends, relieved they didn't end up with someone horrid.

It wasn't until she was calling out the last few people, that I realized Derek hadn't been called on yet either. _Oh god, please no. Anyone but him!_

"Chloe?"

"Y-yes Mrs. Abbot?"

"You'll be partnered with Derek Souza."

My throat constricted painfully and I had to force myself to walk over to where Derek stood. "Hey," I mumbled quietly.

He merely grunted, as if that sound alone conveyed his message clearer than any words could. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe we could actually find some common ground on this project and possibly go for a passing grade.

He leaned down, keeping his arms crossed and his expression blank. "We're doing football," he whispered.

My face contorted into a look of sheer annoyance and I aimed a kick at his foot. Of course he dodged it with ease and his mouth quirked into what could almost pass for a smile. "We are not playing that barbaric, filthy-"

Derek was already strolling away, pretending I had never spoken.

"Listen here Souza!" I yelled after him, trying my best to remain calm.

Maybe not.


	4. Chapter 4

I tried chasing after him, only to find that even at his walking pace, I couldn't catch up. Damn my short legs! Simon was watching the interaction from the side and guffawed when I stumbled over my own feet in my pathetic attempt to get a hold of Derek and ring him out.

"Good-luck with that one," he snorted.

"Is he always like this?" I demanded angrily.

Simon threw his head back and laughed, "You think he's being difficult right now? You try living with him."

I think I was going to pass on that challenge, Derek was driving me right out of my mind with his antics and I couldn't imagine having to tolerate him more than I do now. The fact that Simon was able to joke about it so casually, had me wondering if he was immune to Derek's personality now. All of those years being his brother, how could you not have grown a thicker skin?

"Speaking of which," Simon said nervously. "It'd be awesome if you could come by our house later on."

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Our team won first place for state championships so I was planning on throwing a party. I think it'd be cool if you could come by and hang out for a little bit. Even if it's just five minutes." Simon looked at me with big, hopeful eyes.

"Oh…uh, sure. I think that'd be great. Thank you Simon."

He beamed, "Really? Oh man, I thought for sure you'd refuse me flat out. I can't wait!" Simon dropped his bag on the ground and scrambled to dig around inside of it. "Here!" he exclaimed excitedly. In his hand was a piece of crumpled paper. When he saw my confused expression, he blushed. "Right, sorry. This is our address."

"That would be important," I giggled. "What day?"

"This Saturday! Party usually starts at 6pm, but I don't mind if you show up earlier or something. Or later, if that's what you want." It was strange to see someone as confident as Simon tripping over his own words and blushing like a teenaged girl. _Maybe he's caught the flu?_ No, that wasn't it. Something else was definitely off about him today.

"You're not just being nice to me because your brother is an ass, are you?"

"What? No! I swear. Derek is an ass to everyone, and everyone still gets an invite to the party." Simon quickly stood up and flashed a sheepish smile. "Just promise me you'll be there?"

It couldn't hurt to go and hang out with people for a little bit. It's not like Derek was going to make a scene in front of a crowd of people, that seemed beneath him. I nodded my head vigorously, "I promise."

"Awesome. I'll warn Derek to be on his best behaviour with you," he said solemnly.

I had to smile at the image that popped into my head when Simon said that; Derek being scolded to play nice, like one would scold a misbehaving puppy for chewing up the shoes or piddling on the carpet.

"Thanks Simon, I really appreciate that." After we confirmed that I had all the information written down, I let him go and catch up with his brother. Unlike me, he could actually run and it wouldn't take him long to track down Derek. I on the other hand, was totally dreading attending my physics class. Every school so far has argued with me until they're red in the face about how I must be in a physics class because physics is important to be successful in life. As a wannabe movie director, I fail to see how physics is going to further my career, or even better my life in any respect. All it has accomplished, is to make my brain ache from the knowledge they attempted to cram into my skull.

That wasn't even the worst of it. The kicker was being forced to sit beside Tori Enright, who I quickly learned is the local school bully. She hangs around Liz a lot, which means that I'm forced to be around her by default. Liz is determined to make me feel welcome and to introduce me to everyone that she knows within our school. Tori seems to be a never-ending negative commentary once Liz starts getting into her excited introductions.

You'd think that after having met so many people, I might remember their names. Unfortunately, my memory isn't exactly the greatest. I'd accidentally called a girl named Stephanie, _Mallory_ four times. Four times. I didn't even know it was possible to screw up that badly.

Liz bounded down the hallway towards me. "Guess what?" she chirped happily.

"Hmm?"

"We," she began. "Have a sub!"

"For physics?"

"Yep!" Liz gushed.

Physics wouldn't be so bad if we had a sub who had no clue what they were talking about. Liz and I walked towards our next class together, and she took every opportunity to chatter at everyone we passed. What should have been a 30-second walk, took us ten minutes. We reached the door just in time for the second bell of the day to ring. Liz went off to her seat near the front, while I ducked my head and made my way to the back. Tori was twirling a pencil between her fingers and paid me no attention. Thank God for small favours.

Our sub was Mr. Malloy, but he preferred us to simply refer to him as Liam.

"Now, I don't know much about physics," he admitted sheepishly. Then he cleared his throat and offered us a brilliant smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Tori dropped her pencil and probably for the first time ever, paid attention to what a teacher had to say. "I'm not supposed to do this, but your teacher hasn't offered me up any worksheets or anything like that. I figured today could just be a free period. All I ask is that you tell your teacher the next time you see her, that I worked you like dogs. Fair enough?"

The majority of the class nodded their heads, and a few chuckled heartily. Tori spun to face me and straightened out her blouse. "How do I look?" she asked airily.

I blinked at her, "P-pardon?"

"Oh for crying out loud." Tori gave me her best eye-roll. "I asked you, how do I look?"

"F-fine, I guess."

"You guess?" she sneered. "That teacher up there isn't going to break the rules for a girl who looks _fine_."

I gaped at her in shock. What was she thinking!? "I-I d-don't think you-"

"I don't care what you think Chloe," she spat. "It's a simple enough question."

I narrowed my eyes at her and shot her an enraged scowl. "You look like you're trying too hard," I replied bitterly.

"Excuse me?" she cried, her voice raising several octaves. Tori looked about ready to claw my eyes right out of their sockets. _Talk about a drama queen…_

"Ladies?" We both looked up at the same time to see Liam had made his way over to us. "Is something going on back here that I should know about?" He looked at us both, but I could have sworn that his eyes lingered on me a moment longer.

Tori's face instantly switched from angry bitch, to overly friendly. I couldn't help but be a little bit impressed. I wasn't able to shake my anger as easily as she could and Liam seemed to have noticed.

His eyebrow shot up, and he rushed to disguise his scepticism by coughing into his hand. "Chloe," he said. "Perhaps you'd like to come sit up at the front where I can see you?"

My enraged scowl turned to him and he automatically stumbled to step away from me. "Fine," I snapped. I shoved my books into my bag and quickly slammed my chair back under the desk. A few people shot me a wary look as I stormed my way up to the empty desk at the front. When I looked back, Tori was already flirting with Liam, apparently unashamed. A few words came to mind that I wanted to shout back at her, however, I don't think Dad would be too impressed with being suspended on day two at a new school. _Tori Enright is a big royal, pain in my-_

Someone tapped my shoulder and my insult was forgotten. Mr. Malloy, a.k.a Liam, stood over me. Not wanting to speak to him, I proceeded to pull out my physics textbook and flipped to the previous page we had worked on. He remained standing there.

 _Go away!_ It was only period two and I already wanted to go home and forget that today had ever happened. Why couldn't I blend in at this school like I could at every other one that I had attended? This one, it was like everyone was determined to figure me out and get involved in my life. Not to mention the people here who made me so furious. I generally wasn't an angry person, in fact, most would consider me completely harmless. So what was it about this school that kept putting me in the spot light?

Liam knelt down beside me, patiently waiting for me to acknowledge his existence.

"Yes Mr. Malloy?" I asked, my tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Do you mind stepping into the hallway with me for a moment?" His voice didn't hint that I was in any trouble, but one couldn't be too careful.

Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to speak. "Actually Mr. Malloy," I said meekly. "I'm not feeling so great. I'm just going to duck out." I looked at him with the best ill expression I could manage. For once, being pale came in handy.

"Oh, uh, well of course." He seemed startled by the change of topic. "If you're sick, of course. Not my place to keep you here."

"Thanks!" I feigned a smile, and stood to leave.

Tori's glare was locked on me the entire time and her eyes flashed with raw fury when I winked at her before practically skipping from the classroom. It was only October, and I had no idea how I was going to make it until the end of the school year. This school was unlike any other I had attended. Where most schools focussed on academics, this one seemed to be centred on social circles.

Now, for the real question; what was I supposed to do for the next hour? I could wander off and get a coffee, but I doubted the administrators would appreciate that very much. Especially when I had just claimed to be feeling sick.

I suppose the library was as good an option as any. Before I could turn into the library doors, I stopped when I heard voices coming from around the corner. Derek and Simon.

"She needs to know," I heard Derek rumble.

"No. She doesn't. Not every supernatural has to be dragged into our world Derek. Some are able to live out their lives without ever knowing, and they're happy. Happy is hard to come by for us." _Supernaturals_?

Derek's irritation carried over into his voice, "Yeah, for basic supernaturals like shamans. She's not your average super, she's a necro. And she's powerful Simon. You didn't see the damage she caused to the girl's change room. Royce was messing with her, like he does with every girl at one point or another, and the ground practically split open to release the dead."

"What did Royce do to her?" Simon asked, clearly horrified.

I listened as Derek groaned his exasperation. "I tell you that she's by far the most powerful necromancer we've ever stumbled on, and all you can think about is whether or not Royce defiled your precious Chloe?"

A pleasant feeling came over me. He had called me powerful! Nobody had every referred to me as that. The fuzzy feeling was quickly replaced with mortification. Here they were, hidden away in a library, practically gossiping about me! In a moment of bravado, I stepped from my hiding place and into Simon and Derek's view.

Derek didn't even react, he just grunted and moved out of range from Simon's swinging fists.

"You knew she was there!" he yelled accusingly.

Derek merely shrugged, "I did say I thought she needed to know."

When it became clear that Simon wasn't going to land a hit, he made to hurry over to me, but stopped when I took a quick step back. "Don't," I warned. "I want an explanation. I deserve an explanation."

Simon looked absolutely crestfallen, "Chloe... please."

A growl rose from Derek's chest, and effectively cut Simon off. "Simon's a sorcerer, Liz is an Agito Half Demon, and Tori's a bitch. Er, I mean Tori's a witch."

"Dude!" Simon sputtered. "You can't just go and do that! What if Liz and Tori didn't want her to know? Privacy man, privacy."

Derek shrugged his shoulders again, "Too late."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "What about you?"

"What about me?" he rumbled.

"What are you?"

"None of your business," he responded simply.

I snorted, "Right. Clearly you aren't that intent on helping me, so thanks, but no thanks."

Simon made to move towards me, "Chloe wait-"

"No! You weren't going to tell me anything at all. What kind of friend keeps someone in the dark like that? Especially when it's a big part of who they are. I thought you were better than that." I wanted to take it back as soon as I said it. His face would forever be seared into my memory. Since taking it back wasn't an option, I opted to turn around and run. No footsteps followed me.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm honestly having so much fun writing this story, and I thought I'd pop in here to thank the people who have left reviews and followed the story. Even those who have simply taken the time to just read a page or two. You're all awesome!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Darkest Powers!**

 _Derek's POV:_

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to laugh at how someone so petite could harbour so much anger, or to punch a wall because she was being obnoxiously stubborn. Granted, I probably shouldn't have told her things the way I had. Now it wasn't only her who was furious, it was Simon to.

The situation wasn't complex, it was the people who were making it complex. Why did people always have a knack for that? Something that would take me less than ten minutes to discuss and come to terms with, took others a lifetime.

"So you pissed her off, who cares?" Tori was sitting beside me with her feet placed carelessly on the coffee table. Dad had insisted that Tori make sure to visit at least a couple of times a week. He had insisted this against everyone's protests.

I groaned and rolled my eyes, "Simon apparently."

She snorted and gave me a hard look, "Simon isn't the one who is sitting here wondering how Chloe is doing. That's all you wolf boy."

I kicked her feet off the table and headed towards the kitchen. "Don't call me that," I added darkly.

"Right, _wolf boy._ " Dad had told me it was for the best if I continued to practice controlling my temper around Tori. If only he knew that it was the ultimate challenge for someone with my temper.

"Shut up Tori," I growled menacingly.

She didn't even flinch. That was another thing that ticked me off about her, she wasn't scared of me like everyone else was.

Unfortunately, she trailed after me into the kitchen and began pawing around in our fridge. I wasn't surprised when she dug towards the back where my Dad kept the wine. After she poured herself a small glass, small enough that Dad wouldn't notice, she sat at the counter. "Why not just call her, Derek?"

"And say what?" I asked with a scowl.

She swirled her finger in the wine and brought the glass to her lips, downing it in one swift gulp. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe just ask her how she's doing? Personally I could care less, after what the skank did this morning."

Under normal circumstances, I didn't care who got into Tori's bad books. But this was a fellow supernatural and I felt as though I had an obligation to at least try and help. "What'd she do? Break one of your nails?"

Tori sniffed, "She totally stole Liam's attention from me. He was talking to me, and then she had to go and pout in her little corner."

"Liam? Is he a new guy?" I made it my job to know everyone at school, even if I didn't interact with them. I had never heard of a Liam before today.

Tori had gone to the sink now and was quickly rinsing out her wine glass and sticking it back into the cupboard before my Dad could get home and question why it was out in the first place. She was clever, I had to give her that.

She feigned a yawn, " _Mr. Malloy._ He's a substitute teacher for the physics class."

I rubbed my hands over my face in obvious annoyance. I should probably consider shaving at some point in the near future, before I start resembling a wolf both in and out of form. "Please don't tell me you've been hitting on teachers now. That's low, even for you."

"Oh please," she crowed. "Here, I snapped a picture of him when he wasn't looking. You can't tell me that I'm being unreasonable." Tori pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to me.

At first glance of the picture, I noted that he was indeed a fairly good-looking guy. He was young to, so I could see why Tori saw no issue with flirting with him, whether it was legal or not aside. Then an unfamiliar feeling tugged at me. _I know this guy from somewhere._ Some part of me recognized Liam, but I couldn't place where I knew him from.

Tori snatched the phone back from my hand and I had to stop myself from snapping at her fingers. "I was looking at that," I rumbled.

"Whatever," she sneered. "Just make sure Chloe knows to keep her paws off okay?"

"Do you always have to make wolf jokes?" I roared after her.

"What are little sisters for?" she cackled.

Tori wasn't technically my sister, she was Simon's half sister. I had never voiced my relief at not having to be biologically related to her. Although, she did have a point. If I wanted to know how Chloe was doing, my best bet was to actually speak to Chloe. Firsthand information from the source is always better than secondhand information from someone else.

I picked up the phone, feeling strangely nervous. What if she was still upset with me and hung up? My hands were shaking while I hastily dialled her number.

It picked up on the second ring.

"Chloe?"

A woman with a heavy Spanish accent answered, "Who's this?"

"Derek Souza. From school."

"Chloe is out running right now. Do you want me to leave a message?"

"No, that's all right. Thank you."

The woman on the other line grunted and proceeded to hang up. Chloe was out for a jog just after she'd learned that there is a world out there that is crawling with monsters? How idiotic could one person be? _You do the same thing every time bad news gets dumped on you._ It's not the same thing I told myself firmly. _Isn't it_? I was so frustrated with myself. I wanted to walk over there and cuss her out for being careless with her safety, and yet I knew how jogging was a healthy outlet for stress. If I went over there just to yell at her, she'd shut me out all over again.

So I forced myself to take deep breaths and threw on my running equipment. I grabbed a water bottle before I jogged out the door. I already knew where Chloe lived, and it wasn't far off from my place. This was a small community, off the highway in the middle of nowhere.

Tuning into my werewolf senses, I focussed on picking up her scent. The weather was cool and crisp, my favourite time of the year to be outdoors. The wind also made it easier for moments like this. I was able to pick through the different scents and latch on to hers. She smelled like a mix of fruits and lotions. It was… pleasant.

It didn't take me long to get physical sights on her. Her red hair bobbed under the passing streetlights and when I turned my ear towards her, I picked up on the music she was blasting through her headphones. Huh. I hadn't taken her to be a rock and roll kind of girl.

Smirking to myself, I picked up the pace until I was just behind her. She still hadn't noticed that I was here, and that alone brought back the urge to lecture her about personal safety.

Slowly, I reached over and gently tugged her pony tail. She whipped around so fast, that it almost gave _me_ whiplash. "Derek!" she shrieked. I made to clamp my hand over her mouth, but it seemed that I had underestimated how skittish she was when she toppled into the grass.

"Chloe," I growled, keeping my voice low.

I followed her down to the grass and awkwardly sat beside her. She wasn't unconscious, she was however, still gathering her breath and staring wide-eyed up at the sky. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, she eventually sat up and tugged both headphones from her ears, tucking them away in her sweater. "I think we need to set some ground rules here."

I didn't answer, I didn't want to frighten her anymore than I already had.

"By that, I mean no more late night anything. Late night visits, late night phone calls, you get the point." Her voice was shaky, but she didn't seem all that angry or scared. I decided now would be my best opportunity to talk.

"How are you?" I asked, careful to keep any sharpness out of my tone.

She gave me a weak smile, "Is that why you're here?"

I grunted, "Simon was too busy freaking out, I figured I was obligated to."

At that, she smirked. "Uh huh. I'm sure you were."

Her voice seemed to be implying a hidden meaning, but I hadn't had the chance to grow up around people and it apparently stunted my ability to _read between the lines._ Instead, I just had to assume that people were either lying, or they meant what they said.

"I'm okay, Derek." She reached over and her fingers brushed my hand. I froze at the contact, completely unsure of myself and how I was supposed to react. Her fingers were soft and felt… funny. They felt funny and gentle. She retracted her hand as quickly as she had reached over and I felt a twinge of disappointment. "Thank you."

I looked up at her, puzzled.

"For checking up on me," she explained quickly.

"Oh," I mumbled. "Right. It was no problem."

She heaved a troubled sigh and sprawled backwards on to the grass. "It's kind of a strange feeling."

"What's that?" I rumbled.

Chloe brought herself up on to her elbows and flashed me the first real smile I had ever seen from her and my heart practically skipped a beat. "Knowing that I'm not alone." She lowered herself back down again, her red hair like a carpet in the grass. "I thought I was a freak of nature."

"Technically, you still are," I casually pointed out.

At that, she chucked a handful of grass at my head. "I meant," she continued. "That I'm not the only freak in existence." She rolled over on her stomach to level a glower at me. "What exactly are you?"

"None of your business," I muttered.

"Oh come on," she whined petulantly. "You know what I am, it's only fair."

I scowled at her, "That's because you aren't careful with your abilities, and that isn't my fault. It's clear to anyone who pays attention to you that something is totally off."

"You cheated though," she argued. "You broke into the office and read my files, which is against the law I might add."

"Supernaturals have a different set of laws," I reasoned.

She gave a girlish giggle, all anger gone from her features. "Is there like a rule book that I get to read now? Oh!" she squealed excitedly. "Does it come with zombie bat stickers?"

My eyes widened for a moment. _Is she serious?_

Apparently reading my expression, she burst into a fit of even more giggles. "I guess your type doesn't have a sense of humour then?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Terribly sorry that this update took a little longer than usual. I have the next few chapters written, so even though this one is short, there is more to come very soon! I've had like 4 papers on the go with school so I've been overwhelmed lately. Thank you to everyone who reads!**

 **Disclaimer: Darkest Powers belong to Kelley Armstrong!**

 _Chloe's POV:_

I felt like I should be totally freaked out that Derek had stopped by to check on me, but a part of me was relieved that he had. In an attempt to shake a looming panic attack, I had taken off into the cool of the night to jog off all of my fears. After talking to him, I felt oddly better. I didn't feel like my world was crashing around me anymore, and talking about it, if even for a moment had been effective in soothing my nerves.

"He's kind of cute."

I rolled over on my bed to look over at Ellie and grimaced. "Where did you go?"

She kicked her feet that hung off the desk. "Away," she answered stonily.

Apparently she was still touchy after the last episode we'd had. I decided it was probably best not to mention it to her again. Like ever. So instead I asked, "Who's kind of cute?"

"The boy you were talking to outside last night!"

I blanched, "Derek? No, it isn't anything like that."

She smirked, "I didn't say it was." Ellie picked at her bright pink rabbit slippers and then cocked her head. "Why was your teacher lurking in the lobby?"

I bolted upright, "What? Which teacher?"

"The new one from yesterday," she answered, her voice squeaky.

"Mr. Malloy?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Sure, I guess he looked like a Malloy."

I leaned back in bed and rested my head on the pillow. "He probably lives here is all. I heard earlier that he's new to town, and there isn't much available for real-estate in this area."

She clasped her tiny fists together on her lap. "I don't think he lives here Chloe. He was specifically looking for something."

"What could he be looking for then?"

Ellie looked extremely uncomfortable. "He was reading the tenant list by the front desk, and when he found the name he was looking for, he left."

I frowned, "Did you happen to see the name he was looking at?"

Ellie's eyes widened and very quickly she squeaked, "Saunders!" Then just like that, she vanished again.

What was Mr. Malloy doing looking for my name? If a teacher wanted to speak with me, all he had to do was call the house, not lurk around in my apartment lobby. Without definite proof, I don't think there was anything I could even say that would call him into question. The manager would never give me access to the tapes without a warrant, and I wasn't planning on getting one of those anytime soon.

 _Remember what Derek said? Supernaturals have a different set of laws._ But did I really have it in me to break into the main office? Not only that, but I had no idea how to access those files in the first place.

So I did the one thing I never expected to find myself doing; I called Derek.

"The sun is barely up, who the hell is calling?" Derek's voice rumbled through the phone. _He sounds adorable when he's sleepy_. Mentally, I smacked myself. What was I even doing thinking something ridiculous like that?

"I-it's me. Chloe." My voice was shakier than usual.

"Don't worry, the stutter gave it away. What do you want?" His tone was still harsh, but it wasn't angry like it had been only a moment ago.

"U-uh. I have a problem. I was wondering if you had any sort of experience i-involving t-technology?" What a ridiculous way to start a conversation.

"You called me at seven in the morning, to ask for help with a broken phone?"

"N-no! Of course not. I, uhm, I-I. I'm sorry. Someone was in the lobby last night and they broke into the tenants list. H-he, I mean th-they only left when they found my name. I wanted to know if it was possible to check the lobby's tapes." Derek was making me so damn nervous that my stutter was in overdrive.

Derek didn't speak for a few moments until, "You said he."

"Wh-what?"

He growled, "You said he, and then you fixed it and said they. Who was in the lobby Chloe?"

"I don't have to tell you that," I retorted quickly.

"You do if you want my help," he responded simply.

"Fine." For the second time, I hung up on Derek Souza.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, me again! Since yesterday's chapter was pretty short, I figured nobody would mind if I uploaded the next one right away :) enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Kelley Armstrong owns all the rights to Darkest Powers**

Hanging up on Derek hadn't made me feel any better. In fact, I felt worse. The whole situation with my substitute physics teacher was freaking me right out and I was relieved that today was Saturday. Today was also the day of Simon's party. I was still angry with him, but I wasn't the kind of person who went around breaking the promises they'd made.

So rather grudgingly, I made to head back upstairs to my room and pick out an outfit.

"Chloe!" Rita called out. "Someone's at the door for you!"

My heart lurched in my chest and I froze. Who could possibly be at our front door? Quietly, I tip-toed over to where Rita stood, and she smiled when I came in to view.

I was hit with a rush of relief when I saw Derek's hulking figure taking up the entire doorway. "Oh," I laughed shakily. "It's just you."

He grunted and moved to the side. Tori pushed her way into the our entrance way and my relief was quickly replaced with anger. "You brought her here?" I asked angrily. "This is my house!"

Tori snorted and grabbed for my arm. With Derek at my other side, they subtly, but promptly dragged me up the stairs.

I wanted to scream multiple profanities at the both of them and I didn't care if Rita heard. "Derek how could you-"

His hand clamped over my mouth and I struggled as hard as I could. Kicking and flailing as we went.

"You kids have fun!" Rita called up the stairs. _For God's sake._

When Derek wouldn't remove his hand, I decided it was perfectly all right to chomp down on his fingers.

Instantly, his hand retracted and he stared at me with wide, shocked eyes. "Did you just bite me?" he asked incredulously.

Tori gave an irritated snort, "Can you two save the kinky stuff for later?"

Derek's cheeks turned pink and he nursed his fingers without looking at me.

I spun on Tori, "What are _you_ doing here?"

Tori brushed past me and plopped herself down on my bed. She looked around my room with vague interest and then flashed me a grin that I could only describe as frightening. "I'm impressed. Your place isn't half bad."

"I asked you a question."

She chuckled, "All right cranky pants. We're here to help out, you can chill now. So tell me, who is our mysterious lobby lurker?"

I glanced up at Derek who merely shrugged and looked away. I guess he was still upset that I'd gone and bitten him. "You told her?" I asked, my tone accusing.

"So what?"

"I think you should let them help Chloe." Ellie had appeared again and was sitting cross-legged atop my writing desk. "Something felt wrong about Mr. Malloy. Sometimes I follow you to class because I miss being around people, and when you walked into his class, his eyes went straight to you. Please don't take any chances. I don't want to be alone again." Tears were streaming down her face now and I wished more than anything that I could go over to her and offer her a comforting hug. Unfortunately, my abilities as a necromancer only extended as far as auditory and visual.

"Please don't cry. I'll be careful." I gave her a reassuring smile and she gave me a watery one in return. She quietly sniffled and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her pyjamas.

"Nobody is crying Chloe." Tori was sneering at me, but she also appeared somewhat nervous. She turned to look at Derek, "Is she crazy?"

Derek stared down at his hand, "I'd say so."

"Shut up," I snapped at the both of them. "Ellie explained that I need to be careful. She said that something feels off about Mr. Malloy."

Tori gaped at me in disbelief. "Nobody told me that the lobby lurker was the hot physics sub!"

I planted my hands on my hips, "Why are you here anyways?"

"Derek said you needed a tech person, so I came."

Derek growled, "Yeah, after you made me promise to pay for your gas for a week."

I snorted, "You? A tech person? Yeah right."

Tori stood up and quickly pulled her hair back into a pony tail. "Right, I prefer to work alone. I'll get the tapes for you, but I'm doing it on my own. Derek?"

He grunted.

"Keep her occupied." With that, Tori marched out the door and headed back down the stairs. I made to go after her, until Derek's figure blocked the door.

"She's going to get caught!" I protested.

"No she won't," he rumbled. "We've done this before. Tori can handle herself."

Rather reluctantly, I stepped back and allowed him to shut my door. "So what now then?"

He rolled his shoulders as if working out a kink and then he shrugged. "We wait."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

I frowned, "Well I'm not very good at sitting still and waiting."

Derek paused and gaped at me for a moment, searching my face for further meaning to my statement. When he was content that I wasn't implying anything sinister, he nodded slowly and allowed a small smile to touch his lips.

"Tori won't stick around once she's made copies of the tapes, and being the nosey little brat she is, she'll want to watch them before you."

"Why is my substitute teacher creeping around my lobby such a big deal to you guys anyways?" I asked skeptically.

He strode over to where Tori had first sat, and sit himself down just as she had done. I blushed when I realized that this was the first time I'd had a boy in my bedroom, let alone on my bed. This past few days had been an entire series of firsts.

He rolled his shoulders and shifted himself until he was more comfortable amongst my blankets. "When you're a supernatural, you have to be careful about everyone who enters your life."

My eyes narrowed, "Is that why you were so determined to make me go away?"

He nodded slowly, "Yes."

I responded with a small _hmph_. "What do we do now then, Mister Man With the Plan?"

Derek smirked at that, "I heard you promised Simon a party."

My arms crossed over my chest as I huffed my annoyance, "I promised to show up, I didn't promise the length of my stay."

"Come on, you can't stay angry with him forever. Go get dressed, I'll wait." As if to prove to me his determination, he laid down and let his eyes fall shut. Before I could move, he spoke again, "And don't think about trying to make an escape. I'll hear you."

I wanted to throw a tantrum and howl my rage, but I knew that he'd only find it amusing to watch me unravel. Instead, I grudgingly decided he was right. I had promised to go to Simon's celebratory party, and I couldn't stay angry at him forever. It just wasn't like me.

The only party attire I had was a black dress that stopped just above my knees. Lexi had bought it for my birthday, almost a year ago now. Why she had thought of me when she saw it, was completely beyond me. It was definitely not what I'd like to be caught dead wearing. Grumbling to myself, I hurried to the washroom and ignored Derek's questioning gaze.

I tugged off my joggers and sweatshirt, increasingly aware of Derek's presence just outside my door. Thank goodness I'd thought to lock the door behind me, even if Derek didn't seem like the type to creep on changing girls. No, that was Royce. That weasel had been skipping school ever since he'd been busted for harassing me. I had been too scared to go to a teacher, but with Derek nearby, I doubted he'd be quick to try anything else.

I smiled to myself at that, it was comforting to have Derek as a protector. At first he had been large and rather intimidating, but now I found myself seeing him as more than that. If I could get him to be a little bit nicer, we'd be a pretty great team.

The dress slipped on easily, and clung to my hips a bit tighter than I was comfortable with. I made every attempt to stretch the dress past my knees, but anymore and I would end up ripping the straps that were holding it up. The fabric was made so that I didn't have to wear a bra, and I felt somewhat naked without one. Puberty had done a number on my chest, and I no longer looked like the child I had through most of my high-school years. It was senior year now, and I'd filled out. If I had grown up with some self confidence, I might even call myself attractive, or curvy. But I hadn't, and all I saw was someone who was trying too hard.

I pushed back the thought and went to work on my makeup, keeping it to a minimum. When it came time to apply my eye liner, I was hesitant. What if I really did end up looking like I was trying too hard?

"Go for it." Ellie had appeared in the bathroom with me. She was grinning from ear to ear now. "You look amazing, Chloe."

"I don't feel amazing," I answered, barely keeping the sadness out of my voice. "I wish my Mom was here. She'd know exactly what I should wear, what time I should arrive, who I should hang out with, and everything else that I couldn't keep up with."

Ellie nodded knowingly, "I had a mommy once to. She'd braid my hair every morning before school and tell me how pretty I looked. Then one day, she got really sick. It didn't take long for her to become too sick to braid my hair anymore. Daddy called it Cancer. When she died, I was sad for a long time. Daddy didn't get sad, he just got really mad. He hated me, Chloe. He said it was all my fault that mommy was dead. One day he got angrier than he ever had, and I ended up here. He hated me so much, that he didn't want me to ever be safe from him, so he followed me here. You can't let death consume you forever Chloe, you have to live."

Tears had sprung to my eyes has Ellie spoke. She may appear young, but her voice was filled with a pain that extended beyond her years. I wanted nothing more, than to be able to reach out to her and give her a hug. Maybe it wouldn't make her fix the past, but maybe it'd help to erase some of her pain.

"Ellie, if he's still here, I'll help you get rid of him. You know that right?" It was the least I could do after she'd shared her story with me.

She smiled again, her same toothy grin. "I know you will, Chloe. But later. Right now, you have a party to get to."

Despite the flow of emotions, I managed to laugh. "Yeah, I suppose I do."

Before she faded away again, she called out a small, "Good luck."


	8. Chapter 8

**I want to apologize for such a late update! I had my files saved on the microsoft word app, and they recently had a major breakdown in the app functions and I lost all of my work. I had to scramble to rewrite a six page essay, in 2 days, and all of my work piled up. Plus, losing creative work always takes a toll, so I didn't have the heart to keep at it for awhile, as I also lost an entire written book. But I am back now, and this is my mini explanation and formal apology for the wait. I'll take it as an opportunity to improve the scenes in this fanfiction :)**

Apparently exhausted, I found Derek had fallen asleep while I'd been getting ready. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. I smiled to myself when a soft snore escaped him.

"Derek?" I called, keeping my voice low to avoid spooking him out of his slumber. "Time to wake up, Derek."

He groaned and stretched himself out like a cat, reaching up to scratch at the stubble on his face. I had expected him to wake up and follow after me, what I didn't expect was for him to curl right back up and go back to sleep.

I shoved at his chest, "Get. Up. You. Lazy. Log."

Whenever I had touched him in the past, he would react like I had touched a hot coal to his skin, but now that he was unguarded and tired, his response was to reach for my hand. He tugged my hand to his chest and held it there, muttering unintelligibly in his sleep.

He was warm, like really warm. Rather hesitantly, I splayed my fingers across his chest, marvelling at how firm he felt. He was all muscle underneath the hoodies he always wore. _I wonder what he looks like without all of these extra layers…_ I giggled at the thought. What a strange thing to be thinking.

Derek's eyes snapped open, and he looked straight to me. At first, he seemed bewildered at the fact that I was standing over him with my hand pressed to his chest. Then, his face flushed and he quickly stood himself up. "You should have just woken me up," he growled.

I smirked, "Tried that. You wouldn't budge."

His tone became irritable, "Next time just leave then. I didn't want to be stuck babysitting you anyways."

I sputtered, "Excuse me? You, babysitting me? Last I checked, I didn't ask to be held hostage in my room by some guy who doesn't even like me!" I was shouting now, and Derek turned to snap at me.

His hands reached for my shoulders, and I tried to back pedal all too late. He grabbed me, and pushed me until my back was pressed painfully against the wall. "You think it's bad having someone go to annoying lengths to protect you, Chloe?" His nails were digging into my shoulder now, and I whimpered from the pain. "Try having someone go to annoying lengths to kill you!"

"D-Derek," I whined. "Y-you're h-hurting me."

His hands instantly dropped from their place on my shoulder. His eyes widened when he realized what he'd just done, and he scrambled to get away from me. "Chloe, I-I-"

"Get out!" I spat, now livid with anger. "You need to leave, Derek."

He didn't say anything, but he nodded his head and quickly fled down the stairs. I heaved a sigh of relief when I heard the front door close, and I slid to the floor. My whole body was shaking, and my shoulders were already aching from his assault. Already, two bruises in the shape of a handprint were forming. _Good luck explaining that to someone_.

Part of me wanted to just stay in my place on the floor and cry because of what my life had become, but I knew laying around and crying never got anything done. So instead of submitting to my emotions, I forced myself to stand and push aside my anger. I'd go to that party, I'd have fun, and I would not let Derek frighten me.

I shimmied out of the dress that I'd originally picked out for Simon's party and slipped into a pair of skinnies and a blouse that covered up the bruises. The dress had left me feeling exposed, and exposed was not what I wanted to be at tonight's celebration. Ellie was nowhere to be seen, and I wasn't all that surprised. Conflict seemed to frighten her away.

Before heading out the door, I made sure to grab my jacket. Rita called after me, "See! I told you things would improve with school!"

"Yeah right," I muttered before closing the door behind me and forcing myself to follow through with my fool's mission.

The October air nipped at my cheeks, reminding me that Winter was soon to follow. A depressing thought, really. Thankful I had remembered to grab my coat, I tugged it tighter around myself to fend off the harsh wind.

The address Simon had given me for the party, wasn't all that far from my own house. Though, it was a small town. Nobody lived far from each other. I made my way up to the front steps and raised my little fist to knock on the door.

The door swung open before I could knock, and Simon stood, flushed. "Chloe," he said breathlessly.

"Hey," I muttered.

A grin split across his face, "Derek said you had cancelled. I wasn't sure whether you were coming tonight or not."

I snorted, "Yeah well, I'm sure Derek says a lot of things."

I rubbed my hands together, trying desperately to warm them up against the numbing cold.

Simon stared for only a moment longer until he noticed how uncomfortable I was. "I guess I should invite you in then, yeah?"

I offered him a nervous smile, "I'd like that, please."

He reached for my hand, and I awkwardly took it in my own. His home was massive, and not at all what I expected. There was more than enough space for people to move around, and apparently perfect for a party. People were quickly streaming in, and splitting off into their groups. Simon introduced me to a few of the guys on his basketball team, and I greeted them shyly.

The odd one nodded their heads at me approvingly, casting Simon a wink when they thought I wasn't looking. Heat was creeping into my cheeks now. I wasn't sure how I felt about such assumptions. The assumption being that there was something going on between Simon and I.

Simon was eventually tugged away by the girls of the cheerleading team, who were shamelessly fawning over him. I laughed when he cast me a desperate look, and shook my head when he mouthed _help me._

I would have gladly helped him, but I didn't just come here to enjoy the party, I came here with a mission of my own. There was too much crashing down around me, and I needed to put some of the pieces together before everything fell through the cracks.

When I was sure that nobody was really paying attention to me, I began making my way up the stairs. At first, I saw that each of the upstairs rooms had been closed shut, and felt a moment of disappointment. However, when I twisted the handle of the closest door, the door swung open with ease.

I immediately recognized the room as Simon's. Comics had been ripped out notebooks and plastered to his walls, trophies decorated the shelves, and sports equipment was overflowing out of his closet. His bedroom was exactly like what I had expected it to look like, Simon was predictable.

Quietly, I shut the door behind me and continued on to the next one. Simon's room wasn't the one I needed to find.

When I first walked into the next bedroom, I almost closed the door again. Derek's room was not at all what I expected. His desk was littered with scientific looking equipment and quickly scrawled notes on looseleaf paper. His laundry looked like it could use some work and was piled high in the far corner. Simon had apparently come into his room to use the walls as an extension for his art, and I smiled at this despite myself.

I walked up to the drawings, some of them had been framed. Each of them depicted a large, black wolf, with bright, glowing emerald eyes. Some of the sketches showed the wolf running around playfully, chasing his tail in endless circles. The drawing that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand tall, was the one that showed the wolf battling another, much larger wolf. I stared at the drawing, a familiar thought tugging at the back of my mind. _I know those eyes from somewhere -_

The door bursted open, and a boy stumbled in after it. He sat up with a grin, and I instantly backed away from him.

"Royce," I hissed.

He sneered, "Little Chloe."

"What are you doing here?"

Royce stood up and brushed himself off of the dust that had collected on his pants. He cocked his head, "Same as you necro. _Investigating_."

"I'm not doing anything," I argued back.

He threw back his head and cackled, a sound that made me more than uncomfortable. "Look, we both need something from this room, let's put aside our differences for a time, shall we?"

He offered me his hand, but I kept my arms cross and narrowed my eyes at him. "I don't trust you."

He sighed in exasperation, and ran his hand through his mussed up hair. If I didn't despise him so much, a girl could easily find Royce to be attractive. Unfortunately, there were few who could get past his repulsive personality. "You don't have to trust me," he reasoned. "You just have to put aside your prejudices against me, and work to benefit each other."

He offered his hand again, but I turned and went back to work. "Keep to that side of the room."

Royce chuckled at that, "There's the necro fire I've been hearing all about."

I didn't respond, and he didn't push the subject. Each of us set to work of rifling through Derek's stuff, searching for anything that would give me a clue to what was happening at Lyle High School. I had no idea what Royce was in here looking for, and I didn't particularly want to ask him.

I opened the top drawer of Derek's dresser and immediately turned a bright red. This drawer was filled with an array of super hero boxers, extending from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all the way to Batman. When I giggled, Royce crept over to see.

He smirked, "Dirty, but not quite the dirt I'm looking for."

He picked up a Superman pair and shook it in my face, snorting when I swatted him away. I still didn't trust that his intentions were pure towards me, and I wasn't about to put it to the test. Especially when we were both alone, in a bedroom, and nobody knew where we were.

I ditched the dresser and picked my way over to the closet. Derek's closet looked a lot more promising of information than anything else in the room. Carefully tucked away in the corner, was a large stack of files. The one that caught my eye, was the one that had been placed on top. _He really had stolen my school records, that sneaky, little, son of a –_

"Find anything good?" I jumped when Royce peered over my shoulder at the file gripped tightly in my hands.

"Do you ever mind your own business," I snapped at him.

"Nope." He snagged the file from my hand and his face lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw my name plastered across the top. "How'd he get his paws on this bad boy?"

""He stole it," I answered.

I left Royce to rummage through my file, if he didn't read it there, he would have gotten the information out of somebody else. So I forced myself to keep to my work, and picked through the clearly unorganized stack of files and papers. Derek had each of our files from the school; Simon, Tori, Liz, Royce, and a few other names I didn't recognize. The only file missing was of course, his own. The only file I had wanted.

I put aside the school files, unlike Royce, I wanted to respect the privacy of my peers. The next folder was labeled Genesis II, and I froze. I had heard that name before, a very long time ago. Dad had taken me to say good-bye to my Mom, and Aunt Lauren had held tight to my tiny hand. A man had stopped by and was speaking to her about a process of tests and experiments that had been conducted, words I hadn't understood as a child, and hadn't thought about till now. Aunt Lauren had pulled me aside and whispered that I was so special, and how one day, she would need someone as special as me. She had turned to the man and nodded, and he'd said to he _"Genesis II was a failure, take Chloe and run."_

Soon after that, Aunt Lauren had convinced my Dad to move us all out to New York.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello! Just wanted to pop in here and say that this is an alternate universe, and I have made slight (okay, maybe big), changes to Armstrong's original characters, as I always felt like Chloe's powers should have been played on a ton more. Nobody has commented in complaint, so I don't think it's a problem thus far, and I hope that people are actually enjoying it! As always, thank you for those who take time out of their day to, read, follow, like, and review!**

 **Disclaimer: Kelley Armstrong owns all rights to these characters!**

I had to read through the file a second time just to be sure of what I was seeing. Genesis II had been an experiment to reduce the side effects of being a supernatural. Unfortunately, the lab technicians had cut corners on DNA data, and the result was supernaturals with out of control powers. Some had been a success, like Simon. The failures were Royce, Tori, Liz, and I. There were a few other names that I wasn't sure of, and Derek was labeled under the unknown category. The list that made me shiver, was the one labeled _Terminated_.

"Royce?"

"Sup?" he asked casually.

"What's Genesis II?"

He leaned back on the floor and a smarmy smile spread across his face. "Ah, I see you've discovered our big secret eh?" He moved closer to me, and I instinctively shrunk back. "Genesis II was an experiment, as I'm sure you gathered. They decided to be a boring bunch, and try to reduce our powers. Thankfully, the opposite happened, and our abilities were amplified."

I shook my head, "What's the terminated list then?"

He leaned in closer, "Some of them are too out of control."

He was close enough now that I could feel his breath on my face. I tried to move back, but I was now leaning against the back of the closet wall.

"Hmm," he murmured, smiling at my discomfort. "You smell lovely," he took a deep, shuddering breath, inhaling my scent.

"Back up," I commanded him.

"I don't think so," he laughed darkly.

Before I could continue my argument, he leaned in and planted a firm kiss on my lips. I froze at the contact, my body instantly locking up in response. His hand snaked around to cup the nape of my neck, and he deepened the kiss.

Startled, my body jumped into action and I shoved him off of me. In my haste, I smacked my head against the handle of the closet door. Dizzy for only a moment, Royce took advantage of my disorientation and made to pounce on me.

"You stupid little… you're going to pay for this!" he shouted in my ear.

He stood, towering over me and his face contorted in rage. I scrambled back into the closet, hoping I could find some shelter behind the doors. One of Derek's telescopes floated off of the desk and rose up behind Royce to hover above his shoulder threateningly.

"A telepath?" I whimpered.

He snorted, "Volo, top of the line baby."

The telescope hurtled towards my head, and I dodged it accordingly. Turning with big eyes, to see it had planted itself inside the wall. "Royce, don't –"

This time, a football trophy had found its path towards me. I tried to duck in time, but the trophy clipped my shoulder, knocking me on my back. "Royce!" I shrieked, no longer caring if anyone heard us up here. Royce was aiming to kill, or at least seriously injure.

"Come on little necro," he sneered wickedly. "Where's that necro fire?"

I set my jaw in determination, and curled my fists together. I closed my eyes, and slowed my breathing. Royce stood by, watching with amusement. Clearing my head took more effort than usual with a psychopath standing so close to me, practically breathing down my neck. I let my mind reach out and probe, and surprised myself when my reach extended further than what I was used to. I could feel the energy pulsating through me, and with one final tug, I waited for the telltale sign that I had succeeded in my attempts.

"That's it?" Royce quipped. "Can't say I'm surprised, really. Necromancers have got to be the most useless of all the supernaturals. I mean, have you ever actually –"

A crash sounded at the window.

"What in bloody hell was that?"

His eyes widened with surprise when I stood and faced him, all fear gone from my expression.

"What are you doing?" he questioned, his voice betraying his nervousness.

I smiled, "Making my move." I backed away from him again, this time with another intention than to just escape him. "Break the window."

"What?"

The window shattered. A swarm of birds blasted though the shattered glass and filled the room. The first thing I noticed was the stench, they had been dead for quite some time, some of them fresher than others. There were birds of all sizes, some rather large, maybe an owl, and others very small.

They fluttered above me, just as Royce's telescope had, except my weapon was a little more cringe worthy.

Royce sputtered as he quickly tried to flee the room.

"Attack," I commanded the swarm. Instantly, they obeyed my commands, and with a large, combined shriek, they directed their beaks in his direction. Royce squealed his surprise, and instead of making my escape, I stood by and watched with some satisfaction as they pecked and scratched at any part of him they could reach.

The door to the bedroom rattled loudly, Royce had locked it without my knowledge. Someone was now slamming their weight against the door. "Just a few more seconds –" I began to plead.

The door burst open, and Derek came barreling into the room. He looked from me, to Royce, and that was when he saw the swarm of undead birds. Royce's screams could probably be heard throughout the entire house now, but the part of me that would care seemed to be taking a vacation at the moment.

Derek's eyes went from angry to weary in an instant. "Chloe," he said, keeping his voice low, and not daring to raise it.

 _Derek's POV:_

"Chloe," I began. She looked terrifying right now. I thought that I could be intimidating, and yet here she was, the undead under her command, and her features twisted into a mix of rage and hatred. Her red hair was billowing around her as the October wind swept in through the broken window, sparing no one. At the sound of her name, she turned her head slowly and settled her gaze on me. I watched uneasily as a series of emotions flitted across her face. She was no doubt contemplating the idea of taking a shot at me next.

I tried again, "Chloe, you need to let him go. You're going to permanently damage him."

"So?" she snapped.

"Chloe trust me, you don't want that on your conscious."

"You don't know any – "

"Chloe," I growled, letting an edge creep in to my voice. "Trust me, you don't."

My aggravated tone must have done something to snap her out of her trancelike state, because her eyes widened when she turned with horror clear in her expression to look at Royce, curled up pitifully on the ground. The birds still pecked away at him.

"Oh god," she whispered. "Enough! That's enough!"

The birds retreated and Chloe fell to her knees. I was confused at first, until I saw her eyes scrunched closed in concentration, and one by one, the birds fell to the ground around her. Royce was on his feet in an instant. He didn't even spare her a second look as he raced to leave the room. I didn't bother stopping him. From what I knew about him, he probably deserved a lot worse than a few birds ruining his day.

Chloe remained in her kneeling position, seemingly oblivious to the rancid smell that was filling my own nostrils. She was sobbing into her hands now, and I stood by uncomfortably. Chicks and tears were definitely on the list of things I never wanted to deal with.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked through a bought of sobs.

"Nothing," I answered gruffly.

"You saw what I did, what I'm capable of! How could you not look as if I were a monster?" Speaking her thoughts out loud only seemed to upset her more, and she crumpled to my bedroom floor.

"Chloe," I growled. "Pull yourself together. You're not a monster." I wasn't sure if there was anything more to say. I doubted she'd listen to any words of assurance or comfort I had. So I set to work on cleaning up the birds on my floor. "Do you mind if I close the door?" I asked. "I don't want somebody to come upstairs and investigate all the sounds you two were making."

She nodded her head stiffly and went back to her pitiful crying.

After the birds had been tossed out my window, I set to work on nailing up a quilt to block a majority of the Autumn chill. Chloe was already shivering, so I figured she might appreciate it. Maybe it'd perk her up. I was still nervous to speak to her after the apartment incident. This only made me feel like an even bigger jerk. By the time she graduated at Lyle High School, she'd no doubt have a fear of men, and I wouldn't even blame her.

I swept up the glass, avoiding the jagged edges and Chloe. Upon seeing the closet, I groaned. That was a mess for another time. Somebody had been lobbing my tech equipment around, and I'd no doubt have to replace that. What a waste.

I turned rather reluctantly to Chloe now. "Well, you're probably okay to stay in here for a little while if you want. Though, the bed is probably more comfortable."

Her limbs still shaking, she crawled into my bed and burrowed herself under my pile of quilts. I could just see the top of her head poking out by the pillows. Her snuffling continued. _Great, now I'm going to have to wash those blankets later of snot_. I slowly turned to leave, "Well, if you're okay here. I'm going to go down – "

Her head popped out from her nest, "No!" She flushed a rosy red. "I meant, what if Royce comes back?"

 _Chloe's POV:_

I probably seemed beyond pathetic, behaving like an absolute child and not wanting to be alone. But that was just it, I didn't want to be alone right now. That was the last thing I needed. "Please stay," I whispered.

He grunted, but eventually nodded. When he made to move towards the bed, I squeaked in surprise.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He glowered at me, "You busted my window, now you're asking me to guard you, and you're seriously going to make me freeze my butt over here?"

My eyes narrowed, but I agreed. "Fine. Get over here."

He crawled under the sheets with me, careful not to touch me or get too close. I scooted over to the farther side and allowed him to take up a big portion of the bed. He laid there for awhile, gazing up at the ceiling, no doubt lost in his own thoughts. I watched him for awhile, taking the first good look at his face in the light. _He was really handsome_.

"Stop staring at me," he growled.

"I wasn't staring," I grumbled back. "I was examining."

He rolled over to face me, "Why must you be so strange?" His voice rumbled deeply, and I smiled. "Why are you smiling?" he questioned wearily.

"You remind me of a bear," I remarked. My hand went up to touch his face, brushing against the coarse hair that was sprouted there. "Fuzzy," I whispered with a small laugh. "Large," I said, gesturing at the rest of him. "And protective," I murmured.

He shook his head with a snort, "A bear is not what people typically use to describe me." He leaned into my hand, still touching his face, and gave a soft sigh. We stayed like that for a few quiet moments, before he shook my hand away and rolled back over. His back was to me now, and I rather regretfully pulled my hand away.

"Derek?" I asked in a whisper.

"What?" he growled back.

"I forgive you."

He didn't respond, but his shoulders tensed. Instead of lengthening the uncomfortable silence, I forced myself to roll over as well. We both stared at opposite walls, a wave of emotions crashing through each of us. There was so much left to be said, and yet nothing left at all. Instead, we both fell into a deep, and undisturbed sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

A sheen of sweat had begun to form on my forehead. The heat was becoming overwhelming, and I hurried to kick off the heavy quilts. I froze when a low groan sounded in my ear.

Derek had managed to wrap himself around me in his sleep. His arm was draped lazily over my hips, and his face was nuzzled into the crook of my neck. Our legs were entangled, and heat practically radiated off the guy. Though he was uncomfortably warm, I couldn't stop myself from snuggling closer to him, ashamed that I enjoyed how he felt pressed against me.

I should have just moved away and woken him up, but something seemed to come over me. Something I had never experienced before.

So before I could talk myself out of it, I swallowed my fear and rolled over to come face to face with Derek. His breath was warm and gently tickled my cheek. I scooted closer to him, practically pressing our heads together. "Derek," I called softly.

He stirred slightly, and a moan followed shortly after. Apparently, he was a light sleeper.

I raised my voice a bit higher, "Derek, could you wake up?"

His eyes lazily fluttered open. This time, he wasn't shocked to see me, in fact a lopsided grin that made my heart stop, took over his features.

 _Derek's POV_ :

I had, had dreams like this before. Chloe often appeared in my dreams nowadays. Ever since that first day I had laid eyes on her, she developed this annoying habit of appearing in my dreams, and always remained in the back of my mind during waking hours. The first few times, I had woken up shocked by the direction the dreams would take, but by now, I had accepted it.

I smiled at dream Chloe, a smile that hardly anyone ever saw. "Hey," I mumbled sleepily.

She offered me a hesitant smile, "Hey."

She was nestled close beside me, her head now resting against my arm, and her hips pressed firmly against my own. Dad had warned me that I might get dreams like this when I began changing, he explained it in a way that I would understand; hormones.

Her makeup was smudged and resembled a raccoon, and yet she still managed to look cuter than a majority of the girls who attended Lyle High School. Her red hair was tangled and could only be described as wild.

She inched closer to me now, her face angling towards mine. This wasn't new in my dreams, but something felt off. "Chloe?" I whispered quickly.

She paused, "Yes?"

My mind was clearing now, the foggy, dream-like thoughts quickly slipping away as my brain whirred wide awake. "Chloe, stop," I growled.

She immediately scrambled away from me, her eyes widened frightfully. The last time she had been near me, I had physically harmed her. I could see the bruises clearly now. She had shed her blouse at some point in the night, and was left wearing only a skimpy tank top. Two hand prints had been bruised into each of her shoulders. My handprints. "Chloe," I whimpered. "I think you should go."

 _Chloe's POV_ :

I hadn't expected that response. Though, I wasn't sure what else I expected. He was Derek, the big bad supernatural, who was star of Lyle's football team. Then there was me, Chloe Saunders, who couldn't protect herself without going mad.

My throat constricted painfully, but I forced myself to nod my head. "Oh," was all I managed to say, without choking on tears.

"Please," he said, his voice rough now.

"Yeah. I'm going. Sorry." I quickly scrambled out of the bed, trying my best to avoid being seen. His eyes followed me nonetheless, and his green eyes glowed in the dark. I tugged on my blouse, and then my jacket, zipping it up protectively. The room was cold, and made shiver. I already missed the warmth of his bed.

Derek moved to get out of bed and walk me out, but I stopped him. "Stop. I can get the door myself. Goodnight, Derek."

He had sat up in the bed now, and was staring at me with big, sad eyes. "Goodnight, Chloe," he said, almost too quiet for me to hear.

I hurried out the bedroom door. The party was still going downstairs, but I suspected that it was now far past curfew. Most were settling down in the living room now, passing around drinks and exchanging stories. I crept past, hoping to avoid Simon.

Once outside, darkness enveloped me. The odd dull streetlight illuminated my path, but other than that, I walked on in complete darkness. Music still played from the party, but the noise had died down considerably. I noted with surprise that I had managed to sleep through a majority of the noise, and slept right through to nightfall.

Footsteps sounded ahead of me, and instinctively, I dived into the bushes to my right. A figure stopped under one of the street lamps and continued to look around, searching for something… or someone.

"Chloe?" the voice called. "Chloe, I know you're out here. It's called a tracking spell."

Tori's shrill and condescending voice reached my ears. My shoulders sagged with relief, and I crept from the shadows like a skittish animal. Tori smiled when she saw me, and skipped forward.

"I knew it! Tracking spells never let me down." Her smile faltered when she saw my face. "What happened to you?" she gawked.

"Long story," I grumbled. "Did you get what you were looking for?"

"Sure did," she quipped. "Turns out our sexy physics sub, works for the Edison group as a hitman."

"What?" Now it was my turn to gawk.

"The Edison group ultimately decides who gets terminated. After the mess you made in the girl's change room, thank you for that by the way, they concluded that you were too dangerous to remain in the public. They hired on Liam to terminate you, so to speak."

Panic edged into my voice, "What do I do?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Run, I guess."

I sputtered, "I can't go on the run on my own!"

"Sure you can, just pack a bag, hop on a bus, and go. See? Easy." She sidestepped around me, and started to pick her way back to the party.

"Tori!" I shouted after her. "I'm no good at this supernatural stuff, please!"

I knew she heard me call after her, but she never responded. Tears were streaming down my face once again, and I gathered myself to turn and sprint back home. Maybe Aunt Lauren would know what to do, she had to know what to do.

 _Derek's POV_ :

Chloe never made it home.

"You did what?" I roared after Tori.

Tori flopped down on to the love-seat with an exaggerated sigh. "Oh please, Wolf Boy. Don't tell me you actually care what happens to her? She's just another supernatural, we die all the time. Your Dad even says that you must always value the life of yourself, and your family, above all other supernaturals."

"Chloe is different!" I shouted at her.

Tori laughed, "Why? Because she's cute? Get over it Derek, we don't need the dead weight."

"One day Tori, you're going to learn the hard way that a life of leaving others behind, will result in everyone leaving you when you need them most."

She flinched at that one. "Fine," she said with a snap, and a sharp flick of her wrist. "She probably went to go get coffee or something, it was cold. Go check the shop a few blocks down from her apartment. If she's not there, give me a call, and I'll try out another tracking spell."

I didn't say anything, I just turned around and left. Tori could be a real heartless bitch sometimes, and I have no idea why my Dad still kept her around. Comic relief, I suppose.

I stuffed my hands into the pocket of my jeans. My change would be coming on soon, I could feel it rattling around within my bones. I just prayed that it wouldn't take place tonight, the night that I needed to be alert and ready.

Chloe's scent was easy enough to pick out, and I recognized Tori's as well. Tori's scent always seemed to be masked in an excessive amount of chemically perfume. My nose crinkled when I picked her trail up.

I walked farther along, pausing when Chloe's scent veered off into a bush, and then returned back to the sidewalk. _Chloe Saunders, you are one odd woman._

I halted in my tracks. Another, unfamiliar scent was caught in the breeze. After a few moments, of desperate attempts to catch it, the blood drained from face. _Werewolf_.


	11. Chapter 11

**Feat. A Lame Apology; My schedule has left me constantly on the go and I've barely found enough time to sleep, let alone write. But the end of the semster is drawing up fast, so thank goodness for that!**

 **Disclaimer: All character rights belong to Kelley Armstrong**

Another werewolf had been through this area very recently. It couldn't have been a coincidence. I had to draw the conclusion, that the best hitman, had to be the one who could track his prey; a werewolf. Our mysterious lurker, and physics sub, was a werewolf. There were clear signs of a struggles. Chloe's heels had dug into the earth as she fought to catch a hold and struggled to escape his grasps.

 _What if she was already dead_? No! She couldn't be. They wouldn't just kill her outright. They'd take her somewhere, somewhere it could be completed humanely. I would find her, I would kill Liam, and I would take Chloe far away from this dangerous place. I owed her that much, and it was about time my family and I moved on.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. "Derek?"

"Simon," I said.

"Where are you, bro? I've been looking all over the place for you." His voice implied that he was worried, but I knew he'd heard me yelling at Tori in the basement's den.

"Liam took Chloe. I have to find her."

Simon swore on the other end. "I finally find a girl worth crushing on, and she literally gets snatched away!"

"What?" I growled. "You never told me anything about _liking_ Chloe"

"Yeah," he said dryly. "I didn't think it mattered all that much. You acted like you hated her anyways, so I figured you wouldn't be her number one fan if it came to the two of us dating or something like that."

"Whatever," I snapped.

"Where are you? I can come help." He sounded eager enough, but I felt betrayed. I knew Chloe could never like somebody like me, and yet I hoped, god I hoped. The way she had looked at me, not half an hour ago, had fed into that very hope. There was definitely some friction between us.

I shook my head clear of the thoughts. There was no point to them if I allowed Chloe to die while I pondered over whether she had some ridiculous school girl crush on me. "I'm just down the street, hurry up."

Simon wasted no time finding me, and even snagged the emergency bag that Dad had packed with supplies. "I figured this might come in handy," he reasoned.

I grunted in agreement. The scent lead through a park, and stopped in the parking lot. "They took a car from here."

"Can you track that?"

I gave him an _are you kidding me_? look, that promptly shut him up.

"There's no way that I can track them from here. We're just going to have to look around and see where he may have holed up with Chloe. This is a small town, there aren't many places to hold a girl, where her screams can't be heard."

"Dude," Simon started.

"What?"

"The water treatment plant!"

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes, as if the answer was obvious. "The treatment plant has a basement, the building is isolated, and it's concrete all around. They're closed down at night, remember? She has to be there!"

Simon was already racing back towards the house. I grudgingly admitted that he was probably right, it was the most logical place to keep someone. Simon was already waiting in the passenger seat of my truck when I arrived at the house. I wasn't sure how he had managed to grab my keys, but the ignition was started. He was bouncing in his seat excitedly.

"What's got you so worked up?" I growled.

"We're going on a rescue mission, we've never done anything like this."

"Sure we have," I rumbled. "We've been on the run plenty of times, and being on the run tends to lead to trouble."

He cast an annoyed glance in my direction, "I meant somebody outside of our family. I'm actually shocked that you were the first one to go after her. I could have sworn you hated her guts. With the way you acted towards her and everything. You practically shunned her from our group."

"Yeah well, I do that with every outsider, you know that." Chloe was different, but I wasn't willing to admit as much to him. He may be my brother, but he could definitely be a pain in the ass when he wanted to be.

"What changed then?" He was searching my face, looking for his answer.

I turned to look out the window, avoiding his gaze. My knuckles turned white as they clutched the wheel of the truck. We drove on in silence for some time, our truck swallowed up by darkness as we pulled on to the dirt road that lead down to the river where the plant was strategically located.

I shut the headlights off, hoping to avoid drawing any attention to ourselves as we slowly drove up the path, closer and closer to our destination. The truck bumped along the path, cracking the odd stick here and there.

 _Chloe's POV:_

My head ached like you wouldn't believe, and a migraine throbbed fresh at the back of my skull. He had come from behind when I was calling after Tori. He had bided his time, and waited for me to leave Derek's house. When I was finally alone, and abandoned in the middle of the street, he'd hit me over the head and dragged me off silently into the night.

"Ah, good to see you awake. Could 'ave sworn you were dead for a minute there." He chortled, "Get it? Dead? Because you're a freak who can control em'."

I painfully pushed myself to my knees. Liam was sitting in a chair across the room from me. He had dropped all pretences now, including his previous accent that he'd hidden behind in physics class. He now revealed a Texas drawl, an accent that you didn't hear much of in these parts of the States.

"Wh-what's going on?"

"Lookie here cutie, you've got yourself in a bit of a situation, dontcha?" He stood from his place, and walked over to me. He knelt down in front of me, and his hand hooked under my chin, lifting my face to look him in the eye.

"Got yourself a bit of a shiner there, yeah?" I swatted his hand away, and he chuckled. "I wouldn't be expecting to be getting out of here anytime soon sweetie. This place is locked down tight, and ain't no dead risin' on my watch, got that?"

I nodded, already formulating a plan of action. The room that I was locked in was plain. There was four cement walls, a pile of filthy blankets in the corner, and a large, metal door planted on the opposite wall. There were no windows in here either, talk about a fire hazard.

From what I could gather, this used to be a storage room. I didn't recognize the building however, and I wasn't even sure if we were still in the same state. I had no idea how long I'd been out for, it could have been hours!

The way I saw it, Liam was right. I had no way out of here. All I could do was lay on the cold floor of my prison, and hope to all hope, that somebody would realize I was missing, and search for me before it was too late.

 _Derek's POV:_

The lights were all off in the building, and Simon was already moaning about checking somewhere else, until I caught a scent; her scent.

Chloe and Liam had been through here very recently. Liam's scent almost masked Chloe's entirely, but I was able to pick it out after becoming so familiar with it.

"All right," Simon began. "So what do we now?"

"You stay here," I rumbled. "I'm going to go get Chloe."

"Uhm, definitely not happening. I'll go through the back, you take the front." Simon was already heading off when he finished arguing. I didn't stop him, Simon was free to make stupid choices.

I just needed to see Chloe, to make sure she really was safe, and alive. God, I hoped she was alive.

Liam was nearby, I could smell him. A werewolf's scent was very distinct, and pungent. I crept silently towards the building, keeping as low to the ground as possible. I could see a light now, a small lamp flickering in the main office. Liam was hunched over a phone, and hadn't noticed me yet. Surprising, for a werewolf.

"Howdy there, pup." Liam spun in his chair to face me, his eyes glowing in the darkness. "Come to rescue your girlfriend?" His lip curled up in a chilling sneer, "Thought I smelled you on her. Come to think of it, all over her."

A growl rose up from my chest, and if I had hackles right now, they'd be raised. I dropped into a prowl, and Liam did the same. I recognized him as a lone wolf almost immediately, they had a certain smell to them. I, on the other-hand was the Alpha of my pack.

Liam struck first, aiming a cane at my flank. I dodged easily, and rushed him. He toppled to the ground, and was quick to adjust his attacks.

"Is that the best you got, pup?" he snarled.

We both charged each other, colliding in a bone-breaking thud.

 _Chloe's POV:_

I could hear something happening outside the door. There was fighting, and shouting, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, or who it was. As far as I knew, nobody was coming to rescue me, unless…

The door swung open, and I rushed to back away.

"Chloe?" Simon tip-toed into the room, and sagged with relief when he saw me laying on the cement floor.

"Simon?" I asked, my voice indicating my disbelief. "How did you guys find me?"

He smiled wider, "Props to having a bloodhound for a brother."

"What?"

He chuckled, "Nothing. Come on, Derek's handling Liam. We have to get out of here." He made to reach for me, but I ducked under his arm, and raced out after Liam and Derek.

By the time I reached them, I watched with horror as Liam clambered on top of Derek and was pinning him by his throat. Murder was clear in his eyes, and he paid no attention to me.

"Stop!" I screamed.

My voice distracted Liam long enough for Derek to pry his hands off of his throat, and Derek threw Liam into the office desk, which cracked and splintered under his weight. I raced for Derek, instantly taking notice of the bloody gash that had been cut across his cheek.

"D-Derek?" I whimpered, kneeling beside him. "Are you all right? What the hell are you doing here?"

He gruffly shrugged me off of him, ignoring my concern. He didn't even look at me, he just stood up and went after Liam again.

Liam was laying down in a pile that had been a desk, and was groaning about not being paid enough for this gig. His eyes widened when he saw Derek advancing on him, and his hands shot up in surrender. "Look pup, I'm just here for the money, but no amount of money is worth my life. I ain't stupid, and I did not sign up for another pup being thrown into the mix."

Derek halted, but continued to glower down at Liam. "Who hired you?" he demanded.

"Who do ya think, pup?"

"The Edison Group," Derek growled. "I knew they'd come for one of us eventually."

"What?" Liam asked, clearly confused. "The electric company?"

I strode forward, and softly touched my hand to Derek's arm, "I don't think it was them, Derek." He jumped slightly at the touch, and his eyes softened when he looked at me, obviously for the first time since he had arrived.

I looked to Liam, "Who then? Who hired you to kill me?"

Liam's lip curled up in a sneer, "Doctor Fellows."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: All characters and rights belong to Kelley Armstrong**

 **I really don't have a reason for not updating in so long, other than I got distracted by school, as my second semester was quite hectic. (Biology 30 is kind of intense). Anyways, I am now graduated with not much else to do except look for work, so in the meantime, I decided to pick this up again ^.^ Enjoy!**

"M-my aunt? You're trying to tell me that my own Aunt would hire somebody to kill me?" I demanded angrily.

"That's exactly what he's telling you." All three of us whipped around at the sound of another voice. Doctor Fellows had strode into the room, her heels clicking loudly on the cement floor. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced between Derek and Simon. "This," she sighed wearily. "This was not how this was supposed to proceed."

Derek growled, his voice definitely more animal-like than human now. "Apologies for our involvement in preventing the murder of your niece, how inconsiderate of us."

"Yes, how inconsiderate indeed." She turned sharply towards me. "Chloe, you never told me that you had taken up a romantic interest with a werewolf."

"A w-werewolf?" I stammered.

Simon piped up, "Romantic interest? Excuse me?"

Derek, clearly the subject of everyone's anger, shuffled on the spot uncomfortably.

She sneered, "Oh? Neither of you knew it would seem. Little Chloe has been running around, playing house with a mutt."

Rage began to bubble up inside of me, hot unadulterated rage. While her attention was focused on the boys, I turned my attention towards summoning. After the altercation with Royce, I knew what I was capable of now and I also knew that a necromancer was never useless. The dead were everywhere, if one only knew where to look. I extended my reach, probing the forest around us and smiled wider as my summons touched each carcass. Aunt Lauren was in for it and she didn't even know it yet.

"Chloe?" Her voice cut through my concentration like ice. "Chloe, I'd like for you to come with me. Leave these pitiful creatures you call friends behind and follow me so we can continue our lab work."

The smile dropped from my lips and I aimed a stony glare directly at her. "I refuse to go even five feet with you. You're a deranged women with no concept of love or family. You attempted to have me killed for something I have no control over!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. "I understand that this is all a little bit overwhelming for you, Chloe. When I realized the experiment had failed on you and your powers were beginning to spin out of control, we thought it for the best that we be merciful and put you down before you hurt someone else." She took a step towards me, pausing when Derek snarled. "For God's sake Chloe, you've been summoning spirits in your sleep for weeks now. You think the school was the first incident you've ever had? Think again."

"Instead of murdering me for your mistakes, why not do what any normal person would do and help me?" I snapped in return.

Simon furrowed his brow, "Hold on for a second. You said we. Who is we?"

She didn't even look his way when she responded. "The Edison group of course."

"You work for them?" Derek asked incredulously.

"Indeed. Now, if you will excuse me gentlemen, I'd like to take my niece and leave this nonsense behind us. The Edison group is not far behind me, they will be here shortly to collect you both and I will be taking Chloe as far away from you two as possible."

The skin on Derek's arm rippled as he stalked towards her, "Not going to happen, Miss."

Dr. Fellows pulled from her coat a gun and aimed it at Derek's chest. Before I could shriek my fear for Derek's safety, a loud noise sounded at the doorway.

For the first time in awhile, Liam's voice piped up from behind us. "What in the bloody hell was that?"

"Probably back-up. Relax, Mr. Malloy." still had the gun leveled at Derek's chest and didn't bother to turn around and greet the source of the noise. Fortunately for me, that was her mistake.

I stepped forward and planted myself firmly between the gun and Derek. "Oh, it's back-up all right, Aunt Lauren. But it isn't yours." A horde of undead animals filled the room, enclosing us from all sides. Aunt Lauren didn't even have time to express her shock as the horde converged on her. A mixture of dogs, deer, and rodents, dragged Aunt Lauren off into the darkened forest. The buzz of flies and the stench of flesh eventually faded, as did Lauren's pitiful cries for help.

Liam stared after her with wide, fearful eyes which slowly turned and settled on me. He cleared his throat, "Right well, if y'all will excuse me. I'd like to be gone before that Missy's employers show up demanding some dang answers."

I nodded, giving him permission to leave unharmed. "Try anything," I warned. "And your fate will be far worse."

He chuckled darkly, "I may like being paid, little miss, but I don't fancy death."

After Liam had fled the opposite way Aunt Lauren had been taken, Derek began to gather our things. "We need to go, now." He rumbled. "Your Aunt said that the Edison Group was not far behind her, which means we need to start putting as much distance as we can between us and them right now."

Simon nodded vigorously. "You're right. You head back to our place and pack our things, I'm going to take Chloe back to hers and gather up some of her stuff that she'll be needing on the road. I'll shoot Liz a text as well and tell her to meet us at your place in 30. Good?"

Derek looked like he wanted to argue, shooting me a nervous look. But after a moment's hesitation, he agreed. "Good. Just be fast and be careful."

"What about my Dad? What do I tell him?" I demanded.

Derek huffed, "Nothing. You don't tell him anything. Look, we really don't have time to give you the run-down about how all of this works. You just need to get your things and get out of town like the rest of us. Like you saw with your Aunt, the Edison Group isn't here to protect us, they're here to eradicate us. You thought your Aunt loved you and look what she did, she tried to have you murdered in cold-blood. Now imagine that kind of evil, but multiplied and that is your fate if you stay behind."

Even though every nerve in my body was screaming at me to just break down and cry, I gave Derek a quick nod and moved to follow Simon. The next half an hour was a whirlwind of chaos. I told Rita I would be sleeping over at a friend's house, to which she responded with great praise. We were all piled into the van by 1am and on the highway straight out of town. Their Dad was doing some sort of job a few states over and Simon had already sent him an email explaining everything. Tori was unimpressed that it was all Chloe's fault they had to up and move again. How inconvenient, I'm sure.

"Where are we going?" I finally asked.

"We've lived in almost every state there is. This is the last one. We all agreed that it's high-time we find a new location, as far from the Edison Group as possible." Simon explained.

"And where exactly is that?" I asked apprehensively.

"Well," Derek laughed. "How do you feel about flying?"


End file.
